


Truth is Unkind

by Evitcani



Series: Drabbles and Prompts [9]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Tough Talks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-18 23:51:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14224530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evitcani/pseuds/Evitcani
Summary: She clasped her hands in front of herself, both of them alone in the swarm of their friends and family. “I’m sorry,” she offered.“I know,” Taako said simply and dropped his hand. He looked her in the eyes for the first time in thirty years. “Lup told me.” The wind caught the trees and fairy lights, leaves scattering between their feet.“I’m sorry she had to,” Lucretia managed, voice tight with a sudden shyness. She had a distinct impression she was talking to a stranger she’d known nearly one-hundred-forty years. “I wish a lot of—.”Taako and Lucretia finally talk after the finale.





	Truth is Unkind

**Author's Note:**

> Content warning in that this is supposed to neither be sad nor exactly hopeful.

Above them, a shield shimmered in the boughs of trees. Dark clouds sat above it, heavy on the precipice of the horizon. Lightning cracked the darkness, thunder washing over the land with a promise to soothe the dry grass or set the muggy air alight. Lucretia loosened the collar of her dress, sweat rolling down her temple. She turned her head to [the band playing behind her](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uMab1ohRs0).

Finally, she worked up the nerve to cross the song before her. “Taako,” she tried. For better or worse, she always tried. Taako froze then went on lifting his glass to his lips as if she’d said nothing. Kravitz laid a hand on Taako’s hip as if Lucretia was something that Taako needed to be protected from. 

Taako knocked his hand aside and lightning split a tree in the distance. 

“Stop that shit,” he spat at Kravitz who balked with a glance at Lucretia. Lucretia took a cautious step back from both. Taako passed a hand over his face and pushed his half-empty drink into Kravitz’s hands, keeping his eyes covered, head tilted towards the roiling clouds. “Go get me somethin’ to drink, babe. Fifteen minutes. We’ll talk in fifteen, okay?” 

Kravitz closed his hand around the glass. “Okay,” he whispered and shot Lucretia a glare as he turned towards the bar. 

She clasped her hands in front of herself, both of them alone in the swarm of their friends and family. “I’m sorry,” she offered. 

“I know,” Taako said simply and dropped his hand. He looked her in the eyes for the first time in thirty years. “Lup told me.” The wind caught the trees and fairy lights, leaves scattering between their feet. 

“I’m sorry she had to,” Lucretia managed, voice tight with a sudden shyness. She had a distinct impression she was talking to a stranger she’d known nearly one-hundred-forty years. “I wish a lot of—.”

“Don’t,” he held up his hand to cut her voice before him. “There is _nothing_ you could say, Lucretia. Wishes don’t do shit.” Pinpricks of tears touched Lucretia’s eyes and her knuckles went white against her stomach. Fire haloed Taako’s hair, the grass soaking up the flames carving away the distant darkness. “Don’t waste your breath on me.”

He gestured around them, palm lingering when it underlined the bright banner declaring, ‘ _Happy birthday, Lucy!_ ,’ in Merle’s messy scrawl. “You have all the forgiveness you could ever want,” Taako whispered and dropped his hand to his wedding ring, twisting it off his finger. He offered it to her in the palm of his hand. She took it hesitantly – almost as if she was afraid the fire blazing in Taako’s eyes would leap from the metal and consume her. Lucretia took a shaky breath and looked at the ring. It wasn’t what she would have expected. She thought Taako would wear all manner of diamonds, but this was a simple band of gold scored dull by wear. Taako and Kravitz hadn’t invited her to their wedding. The party moved around the silence between them, the storm overhead, the fire too far away to worry. He gestured at her to go on, “There’s an inscription.”

In the light on the inside the ring read, ‘ _I love you_ ’. 

“The jeweler got them mixed up,” Taako explained softly. Lucretia took a step closer to hear and he let her. “But I guess that’s what we get for only giving her an hour.” She couldn’t help smiling at the sliver of Taako she knew; impulsive but not careless. “Krav’s was sposed to say that. Mine was sposed to be some music notes or somethin’.” He looked distantly affectionate and Lucretia’s smile faltered.

The flames danced with the flyaway strands of Taako’s hair, fire bells tolling under the low purr of thunder. It was far away and getting ever farther, searing up the hills away from them and out of the eyes of the stranger before her between all the people Lucretia had ever known; ever _really_ known. He opened his mouth and closed it silently, bells insisting in a faraway city. She glanced down at Taako’s ring and it still sang with a dull flicker of fire. 

“You have all the forgiveness you could ever want, Lucretia,” he told her again and held out his hand to take the ring back. “I need mine for that. For the person I had to be.” Lucretia clutched the ring to her heart and swallowed thickly. He dropped his eyes to his empty hand. “You took everything from me, you took myself from me, my home, my family, my _sister_. I won’t let you have what forgiving you would take.” 

She pressed the ring into his palm. 

“You were my sister,” he said, quiet and plain. Whatever betrayal had once held in his voice had long since faded, scored dull by time. It was a statement of fact and nothing more than that. The rain crashed against the flames, tempering them to embers. It rolled off the shield, between the dry weeds, uprooting the grass who could not hold themselves to the earth. He turned and swiped his face. Lucretia squeezed her eyes shut.

When she opened them again, Taako was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to follow my [Tumblr](https://evitcani-writes.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Evit_cani).


End file.
